


Second Chances

by orphan_account



Category: The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Emmet Is Lovesick, Emmet Isn't An Idiot, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, M/M, Post-The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), Rex Is Ashamed Of Himself, Rex Isn't An Asshole, Time Shenanigans, Timeline Shenanigans, Timeline What Timeline, stubborn people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-11-04 07:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17894513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A few months have passed since Ourmamageddon and all is well and good, for most people, anyways. Emmet? Not so much, especially when there's a Rex-sized hole in his life.But all this is going to be thrown out the window when time travel decides it's not quite done with him just yet.





	1. The Statue

“Emmet, I know I’ve been asking you this ever since you proposed this idea to the major, but I’m gonna ask again, are you _sure_ this is a good idea?” Wyldstyle prodded as she and her best friend, Emmet, strode towards the centre of Syspocalypsestar.

Emmet sighed, having been asked this question far too many times to count. “Yes, Lucy, I’m sure this is a good idea. It’s been three months since he… disappeared, and yet there’s still no memorial for him anywhere!”

Lucy, having heard this answer repeated many times already, decided that she had had it with this nonsense and grasped Emmet’s shoulders, so they were staring eye-to-eye. “Emmet, are you even listening to yourself?! A memorial for _him_?! He nearly single-handedly permanently banished everyone to the Bin of Stor-age _and_ he practically banished you to Undar in the Dryar System! How, after all of that, is he worthy of a statue and a speech?!”

Uncharacteristically, Emmet got a bit mad at Lucy’s outburst, though his expressions did nothing to show that, he didn’t need to pick another fight with her especially when they were barely ten minutes away from their destination.

“Lucy, I’m well aware of what he did, heck, I was the centre-point of it all. Sure, he may have nearly banished everyone to the Bin of Stor-age and sure, he may have essentially banished me to Undar, yes, I’m aware what he did was less than ideal for most of us, heck, probably all of us, but that still doesn’t make him a bad person or the bad guy. Yeah, he shot me off to Undar and left me there for a few hours, but he came back and after that long on Undar, I was happy to have the presence of _anyone_ I knew, even if he came there to try and make me become him.”

“But what about-” Lucy began before being cut off.

“Look, I think you’re forgetting the fact that Rex… is me, just, a different version of me, a version of me who wasn’t as fortunate as I was, and despite what he did, I know he did it because he only wanted what he thought was best for me. I wouldn’t be the person I am now if not for him, because had Rex not intervened, I’d be him. The lengths he went to try and make me become him were long, I’ll admit, but once you realise how horrible, dark, smelly and _lonely_ of a place Undar is, you’ll get some sort of idea of what Rex went through for _five years_ , I stayed there for a few hours at most and I was on the verge of going mad myself, I can’t even fathom what Rex went through during his time there. Can you really blame him for distrusting everyone when said 'everyone' in his timeline left him there to rot for five whole years?”

By now, Emmet’s impromptu speech had garnered quite a crowd of curious onlookers, not that he realised this though.

“It may not have seemed like it at first, but I’ve known him for longer than anyone else here has, and I _know_ his heart was in the right place, you even saw it yourself when he was disappearing before our very eyes, and in the end, that’s all that matters. He’s not a villain nor a bad guy, just, someone who wanted to protect me from the horrors he experienced, and that’s why I believe he deserves a statue and a proper memorial.”

Having finished, Emmet only now realised how many people had stopped to hear his sudden speech to Lucy and he couldn’t help but blush, he hoped he hadn’t exposed himself too much there.

It wasn’t always that you managed to get Emmet to deliver something like that, so to say Lucy was surprised was an understatement.

“Wow…”

Chuckling nervously, Emmet responded. “Sorry about that, I guess I’m just really passionate about this _and_ the fact a person’s actions shouldn’t define who they are.”

“Oh! Don’t apologise Emmet! That was perfectly fine and to say the least, you showed me a completely different perspective on what happened, so, thank you.” Lucy smiled at her best friend, something she was finally doing again, who easily reciprocated. “Oh, and seeing the number of people who stopped to listen to that speech of yours, I’m sure you’ll do fine Emmet.”

“Thanks, Lucy.”

* * *

Emmet nervously pulled at the collar of the suit he and Lucy had bought yesterday for his speech, he really disliked the uncomfortable and foreign feel of new clothes in general, especially something as restrictive as a suit, he much preferred his construction vest.

Emmet glanced back down to the sheet of paper containing his speech regarding the events involving Ourmamageddon and more importantly, Rex Dangervest, his alter-ego from a different timeline, something most people in Syspocalypsestar still don’t know about, and it’s about time they did, he was tired of hearing people talking badly about Rex.

Distantly, he could hear the sounds of hundreds of citizens chattering, most likely wondering why there was an assembly being held in front of the mayor’s office, and probably also why there was a giant cloth covering what Emmet knew to be the statue of none other than Rex Dangervest.

Emmet never really was one to shy away from public speeches, stage fright just wasn’t ever his thing, what he was more afraid of were the reactions of the citizens of Syspocalypsestar, he really hoped that they wouldn’t react too badly to the statue.

The calming sound of Lucy’s voice broke Emmet out of his reverie, something he found himself to be doing quite frequently nowadays, to the growing concerns of his friends.

“Emmet, you ready? President Business is about to finish his introduction and then it’s all up to you.”

“I know, it’s just… I’m worried as to how everyone’s gonna react to it, I mean, I already have a sample of one reaction to my idea and that was yours, multiply that by everyone in Syspocalypsestar and I don’t think the statue is gonna remain standing for very long.” Emmet slouched at the thought of the statue he spent months trying to get permission to build being torn down, though more importantly, it meant that Rex wasn’t going to get the positive recognition he should be getting, despite everything.

Seeing Emmet like this pained Lucy, especially when Emmet’s cheerful and upbeat attitude was something she had grown to appreciate and be accustomed to.

Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Lucy began. “Emmet, I know what my first reactions were to your idea and I know they were… bad, to say the least.” Emmet chuckled lightly at this. “But remember that speech you gave me the other day? Up till then, I was adamant that building a statue of _Rex Dangervest_ was a bad idea, but hey, I thought giving the DUPLO Aliens a giant heart was a bad idea and look at what’s happened now, though that’s beside the point, the point is, your speech really changed my perspective on things, and even though changing my mind isn't easy, I’ve done some thinking the past few days and I’m starting to warm up to the idea.”

Emmet brightened at this, flashing his signature wide grin, it wasn’t always that Lucy said she liked his ideas, so this was monumental considering her original reaction to it.

“Uhhhh, though I still have some more warming up to do, kinda like how the popcorn you put in the microwave for movie night always needs at least another minute in the microwave.” Lucy said and she couldn’t hold back her laugh from the face Emmet pulled once he heard what she said.

Before Emmet could say anything though, President Business was already ushering him to get out onto the stage, which did get a few more laughs out of Lucy.

“Good luck, Emmet! I believe in you!”

“Thanks, Lucy!” He called back.

“Alright, kid, stage is yours now, do have fun! Oh, and by the way, good luck.” President Business said as Emmet walked out onto the stage.

As soon as Emmet got onto the stage, he was assaulted with a barrage of claps and whoops from the citizens of Syspocalypsestar, the sound was, quite frankly, deafening, that didn’t stop it from bringing a smile to his face though.

It didn’t take long for the claps to silence once Emmet arrived at the pedestal. He carefully placed his speech onto the pedestal and took a deep breath, he really didn’t want to regret what he was about to do, but he probably was going to anyways.

* * *

Yep, he definitely regretted this.

The shouts, yells of anger and exclamations of confusion were nothing like he had ever heard before. Sure, Emmet sort of expected a bad reaction but this was just putting it on another level, people were enraged at the fact there was going to be a statue of Rex Dangervest in the centre of Syspocalypsestar.

Emmet realised nothing productive was going to come about yelling and shouting like everyone was doing now, so he decided to take the initiative to attempt to calm everyone down, he managed to do so in the past, so he could do so now.

Though, before he could say anything, Emmet felt a sharp and sudden pain in his abdomen and he doubled over, on his knees and breathing hard.

Emmet felt nothing but pain spreading across his entire body, from his abdomen to his legs and arms, his mind in complete shock, barely registering the fact that Lucy was by his side, yelling something he couldn’t hear.

He did, however, manage to process the sudden loss of feeling in one of his arms, then his legs and his other arms and legs. Emmet glanced down to see what had happened but was shocked to find his arms and legs completely gone, with his abdomen already starting to vanish.

“Wha-What’s happening to me?!”

Before he could hear an answer, he was already gone.

* * *

Emmet had never felt more disorientated in his life. Usually, his nightmares didn’t make him want to vomit but this one did, so, with barely any conscious thought, Emmet let it all out just like that, and boy did that feel good, or terrible, depending on how you looked at things.

Why was he puking in a bucket? Emmet didn't know. How was he puking in a bucket? He didn't know that either. Whose bucket was he puking in to? Well, Emmet needed answers to at least one of these questions, and it usually didn't hurt to try and find out.

“Lucy?”

What followed was a deep, rich and extremely familiar laugh, he swore he had heard it somewhere before, and it was rather pleasant to hear as well, though his mind was having trouble pinpointing whose it was.

Though the curt “Nope.” that followed could only belong to one person.

“Rex…”


	2. Homesickness

“The one and only.” Rex’s voice was the same confident and deep tone that he had quickly grown accustomed to in the short time Emmet had known him, and it was more than a pleasure to finally hear again after so long.

“Oh man, what happened? And why are you here?” Emmet asked, with a hand pressed to his forehead to try and calm his raging headache.

Rex set the bucket down, pushed it away and crouched so he was eye-level with his younger self, even if he wasn’t focussing on much of anything at the moment.

“Well, Emmet, your guess is really as good as mine. But if I had to guess, there’s probably been a disruption back in your timeline, which I’m guessing is really just a delayed aftershock from my dive back in time. It probably messed up with something, as with most disruptions, erasing you from existence and causing you to be sent here.”

Emmet’s vision was starting to come back to him, and boy was seeing Rex in all his glory a sight to see. Especially when all Rex was wearing were brown shorts and a navy-blue t-shirt… He really needed to stop staring.

“So, this isn’t just a dream?” Emmet asked, his tone seemed off, almost hopeful, but he chalked that up to the aftershock of whatever just happened.

He supposed Rex picked up on that as well if the telling raised eyebrow was anything to go by, though Rex didn’t prod further into that, which Emmet was sort of grateful for, because he wouldn’t have had an answer.

“Probably isn’t, though you can always test it by slapping yourself.”

Which Emmet did, much to Rex’s amusement.

“Owww!”

“Kid, you didn’t have to do it so hard. The trick is if you feel pain, you’re not in a dream, though when I come to think of it, I think it was a pinch instead of a slap.” Rex explained as he helped Emmet stand up.

“Wow, Rex, you know you could’ve led with that instead.”

“Oh, I know, but what I would give to see that cute face of yours all red and adorable.” Rex cooed, causing Emmet to blush, he was definitely _not_ expecting all of this from anyone, let alone Rex of all people.

Emmet, finally able to see properly now, took in his surroundings. It seemed he had been transported to the middle of a dense pine forest, though the most striking thing that stuck out like a sour thumb in the continuous pattern of dark pine trees was a rather simple cabin made nearly completely out of wood, guess that made sense though. But the thing that struck him most was the fact it was the exact same design as the house he had built back in Apocalypseburg and the house he and Lucy were living in now in Syspocalypsestar, well, were living in before… this.

And with that thought, the whole magnitude of ‘ _this_ ’ started dawning on him all at once. He was stuck in some alternate dimension or timeline, _or who knows what_ , who knows how far away from his home with no way back to his friends for who knows how long! And worst of all, he _no longer existed_ back in his own timeline, and that was too tough a pill to swallow.

And, even though Emmet swore to himself to never do this again the first time he did this, Emmet honestly couldn’t help himself. He panicked.

It wasn’t long before Emmet was hyperventilating, something he hadn’t done since the fall of Bricksburg and was repeatedly mumbling incoherent sounds at an even more elevated pitch than his usual voice. His usual carefree and upbeat attitude nowhere to be seen. This wasn’t like him at all, well, the ‘him’ everyone got to know, but in truth, this was very much like the ‘real him’.

Emmet couldn’t think straight, the heart of his headache stemming from the hundreds of meaningless thoughts going through his mind at hundreds of kilometres an hour, thoughts that had no meaning whatsoever.

Nothing seemed to be working for him it seemed, with him barely being able to move his body from the doubled-over position he was currently in.

He did manage to register that Rex was saying something, though it looked more like he was yelling. But the thoughts in his mind were far too overpowering for Emmet to be able to make out what Rex was saying.

Consciousness was slowly slipping away from him; his eyelids grew heavy and Emmet swore the last thing he saw was a very worried Rex.

It wasn’t much long after did Emmet pass out completely. And the feeling of floating above the ground he was currently experiencing? Well, that'd just be another one of Emmet's many unanswered questions.

* * *

The first thing Emmet realised when he regained consciousness was the fact that he was not lying on hard ground, and that he was very much not outside, which was confusing as this was not the last place he remembered being in.

Instead, Emmet found himself lying on a bed in a rather spacious room. The walls were painted a pleasant shade of navy blue that reminded him of Rex’s vests, there was what he guessed to be a closet on the other side of the room, but it was pretty hard to tell since it was in the shape of a blue telephone booth, and if that wasn’t weird enough, the bedside table was essentially a miniature raptor with its back being used as the actual table, the entire thing reminded him of his raptor friends back home and Emmet was struck with a pang of homesickness.

Trapped someplace he didn’t even know the name of, far away from home with no prospect of return any time soon. If Emmet was edgier, he’d have found this amusing, but edgy really wasn’t his thing, at all really, so this was all just rather depressing, which kind of reminded him of the early days of the fall of Bricksburg, but at least he was home then. Emmet realised he’d probably drive himself insane doing what he was doing, so he decided to do something, anything, else.

There didn’t seem to be a clock in the room or really anything to show the time, so Emmet tried gauging what time of day it was by seeing where the sun was in the sky like some caveman. Well, he would have if he could see the sun through all the dark clouds and rain.

Emmet never really liked rain, all it did was inhibit his ability to go out and hang out with people and have fun. Sure, he could still go out when it was raining and have fun anyways, but no one liked getting their clothes soaked, not even Emmet.

Though back when he lived alone, Emmet _did_ enjoy the calming sound of the pattering of rain against windows and roofs, and he still does now. So, he supposed rain wasn’t all that bad, he might even go as far as to say he missed hearing this, since rain wasn’t exactly too frequent of an occurrence back in Apocalypseburg, with it being in the middle of a desert and all.

“… It’s nice, ain’t it.”

Emmet screamed, not expecting Rex to have so easily snuck up on him like this.

“Rex?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Emmet told him, still breathing quite heavily from his scare. Emmet never was one for jump scares or scary stuff in general.

Rex only gave a hearty chuckle and a small apology in response, deciding to stare out the window instead.

“… You like the sound of the rain as well? Wait, of course you do, we’re the same person… But just to be sure. Do you?”

Rex folded his arms across his broad chest and smiled as he shook his head, Emmet’s innocence was just adorable, even if it did hit him with a pang of guilt and self-loathing.

“I may have spent 5 years on Undar, but I’m still, somewhat, the same person you are, Emmet, just, handsomer, tougher and stronger.” Rex smirked.

“Well, can’t argue with that.” Emmet replied, finally able to take his eyes off the downpour outside, he directed his attention to Rex.

Rex hadn’t seemed to change much since the last time Emmet saw him, but he supposed a few months wasn’t really that long a time. He was still as muscular as he was before, as charming as he was before, and, he hated to admit this, as handsome as he was before. Emmet may be naïve but given the few months he was given to go back over everything that happened, he couldn’t deny to himself that Rex had a striking personality that he had grown to like and the looks to complement it, while he was… Emmet, the construction worker.

“Hey, Emmet, you good there? Seemed like you were out of it just now.” Rex asked while snapping his fingers in front of Emmet’s face.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… thinking.” Emmet replied.

“Thinkin’? About what?”

“Well, first of all, I’m thinking about where it is that I ended up and I still don’t know why you’re here with me even after however long I was sleeping for-”

“Nine hours.” Rex interrupted.

“And what’s happening back home, how is Lucy taking things? Is she alright? Was anyone else affected? Was Lucy affected? Is Syspocalypsestar okay? How am I gonna get back home? When am I gonna get back home? Am I gonna get back home? Why-”

Rex had a feeling he knew where this was going to end up and seeing Emmet in distress wasn’t exactly something he wanted to see again, ever. So, he stepped in before things got out of hand.

“Kid, calm down! It’s alright, your questions will be answered in time, just… calm down, you’re fine… you’re fine.” Rex wrapped his arm around Emmet’s shoulders and pulled him close in an attempt to calm his younger counterpart. “We’ll get you back…”

“Don’t you mean, we’ll get _us_ back? Because you deserve to be happy and have friends again, Rex. If we find a way to go back, you’ll come back with me, right?”

Rex didn’t respond.

_I missed you, Rex._

So, neither did Emmet.


	3. The Confrontation

“Rex?” Emmet asked as he entered what he assumed to be the living room.

Rex didn’t answer, only looked up from whatever it was he was sketching on the table.

Emmet took that as enough of a cue to ask away. “Ummmm, so, now that I’ve been, uhhh, stuck here for a day now, do you know where exactly ‘here’ is?” When Rex didn’t respond, Emmet tried again. “Uhhhh, let me rephrase that-”

“I know what you’re asking. Don’t have an answer for you, sorry.” Rex said while continuing with his sketching, his tone seemed off, but Emmet dismissed that.

You didn’t need to have been a construction worker to know what Rex was sketching on, the sheets of papers _were_ blue after all, but Emmet was one, not that that meant anything though. So, curiosity got the best of him.

“Hey, what’re you drawing?”

Rex tensed ever so slightly at this, his pencil stopping mid-stroke before continuing along its path just as it was before.

“New section of the cabin.” Was all Rex responded with.

Emmet brightened at this, building and planning was always his strong suit and he loved doing it, it was the main reason he became a construction worker in the first place after all.

“Oooooh! Can I help plan it too?! Please, please, please!” Emmet begged, he’d do anything to have something else to do that wasn’t playing ‘I spy’ by himself.

Though, clearly, Emmet needed work on his persuasive skills because the hard “No.” that followed didn’t sound like a statement that would change any time soon.

“Fine..." Emmet sighed disappointedly. "Since there’s not really much to do here, I guess I’ll take a walk around the area.” Emmet stated. He really needed to get out of this house, he never was one for being confined in small spaces with little freedom.

Though before he could even make it past the living room door, Rex was already holding onto his wrist like his life depended on it if the strength of the grip was anything to go by. Emmet didn’t even know how he managed to get to him so fast, he barely took two steps, though glancing back, the pens and pencils that were previously on the table had all fallen to the floor along with the blueprints Rex was working on.

“No.”

He’d never seen Rex so stern before, eyebrows furrowed and frown in place, and if he was being honest, Emmet knew what he looked like when he was slightly worried and oddly, he could see some of that in Rex’s expressions now as well. What was so bad about taking a walk outside that got Rex so worked up?

“No? What do you mean ‘no’?”

“You know damn well what I mean by ‘no’, Emmet, but just for you, it means you ain’t gonna be taking a walk outside.” Rex stated firmly, with Emmet’s hand still under his vice grip.

Emmet raised a curious eyebrow but then decided to mirror Rex’s frown instead, though more out of curiosity and confusion than sternness.

“Why not? What’s so bad about taking a walk outside that’s getting you so worked up? It’s not like there are any aliens or monsters out there, wherever this is seems harmless.”

Rex’s frown deepened, he was getting annoyed with Emmet’s incessant questions, why couldn’t Emmet just understand that he just _can’t_ take a walk outside?

“Emmet-”

“Hey! Why are you using that voice?” Rex kept silent, confused as to what Emmet was getting at, and frankly, he was getting increasingly annoyed at these questions. “The voice you use whenever I do something wrong! Sure, the times you used it, I guess I was doing something wrong, but this time I asked if I could take a walk outside and now that’s somehow _wrong_?”

“You just can’t, alright?!” Rex yelled, his arms grasping Emmet’s shoulders instead. “Just stop asking so many _god damn_ questions and at least _try_ to understand that you just can’t take a walk outside!”

“Oh, so _I’m_ the problem now?!”

“You’ve always been the problem!”

…

Emmet was shocked into silence, hurt was written across his face and his entire body was frozen. He’d been insulted and mocked before, too many times to count now, but they usually had no effect on him, the people who did these things didn’t know him, so their words were meaningless. But when someone he knew said something along those lines, oh, it hurt, and it hurt badly. It happened once with Lucy when General Mayhem had confronted everyone, and boy was trying to smile through all the pain and hurt he felt at Lucy’s words one of the hardest things he’s ever done, but he managed to do it, successfully too, so he could manage it again now.

Emmet smoothed his face from his temporary moment of weakness and tried to force through a smile as he did with Lucy, he really did, but what came out was just miserable.

“Emmet, I’m-” Rex began, his voice soft and on the verge of trembling, far from the harsh and loud tone just a second ago, though he was cut off before he could continue.

“I-It’s fine, I-I get it a lot…” His eyes were becoming glossy and his vision was blurring. Emmet needed to get out here. Now. “I’ll, just, uh, I’ll just leave you to it. Sorry for bothering you, Rex.” Emmet mumbled before dodging out of Rex’s grip and dashing straight back towards his room.

“Emmet! Wait-” Rex flinched when the sound of a door slamming reached his ears.

Rex sat back down on the couch and sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. He felt absolutely terrible, and the guilt and self-loathing that had been slowly eating away at him over the months he spent trapped here only intensified. Rex only realised you could truly hate yourself a few months ago after everything had happened, _this_ only made that hatred deeper. In some far away part of his conscious, he knew that this hatred wasn’t healthy, not that he cared though, well, that’s what he told himself at least.

Rex was exhausted, he really didn’t feel like continuing with his blueprints anymore, not after what just happened. And he’d be kidding himself if he thought he’d be able to remodel them to account for two people any time soon, it took him months to design it for just one person.

He found himself sighing again. “‘You’ve always been the problem’? Yeah, way to go, asshole… He’s surely gonna think you care now, dumbass.”

Rex groaned, he couldn’t ever seem to do _anything_ right. God, he was useless.

Rex put his head in his hands, out of exhaustion or exasperation, he didn’t know and frankly, he didn’t care. He just hoped Emmet wasn’t taking what he said to heart, but knowing how Emmet was, and he _knew_ how Emmet was, he was him a lifetime ago, Emmet would probably take it to heart, and if that didn’t make someone feel like the worst scum on the planet, Rex didn’t know what did.

* * *

Rex nudged the door open, careful to not make too much noise as to not make his entrance too obvious in case the person inside was asleep.

Quiet really wasn’t his style, he was more a ‘show up and make as much noise and explosions as possible’ kind of person, but even he was considerate enough to realise that that kind of approach to the situation he was in was inappropriate, to say the least.

Rex took a peek into the room to see if Emmet was awake or not. As it turns out, Emmet was most likely asleep as the room was shrouded in darkness, the curtains were drawn, and it was obvious the window was open. Rex guessed Emmet just wanted some fresh air after what had happened a few hours earlier because he had needed some as well, though Emmet must’ve fallen asleep at some point.

Rex contemplated leaving the conversation he planned on having for a later time so Emmet could sleep in peace, though he quickly dismissed this idea seeing as he had already put this off for hours already.

Rex sighed and sucked in a deep breath before begrudgingly entering the room and flicking on the lights.

Shy wasn’t a word that Rex thought described him, at all, if anything, he was anything but shy considering all the things he managed to accomplish up till now. Honestly, it’d be insulting to him if someone were to come up to him and call him shy. But despite all of this, Rex knew that even though he could face off raptors, literal dinosaurs, travel back in time without a second thought and try to literally change the course of history, that didn’t change the fact he was utterly terrified of confronting people about _anything_ regarding feelings or emotions and the like.

Rex Dangervest, galaxy defending, archaeologist, cowboy and raptor trainer, who’s also a completely panzy when it comes to talking about _feelings_ of all things. Pathetic.

Rex cleared his throat, in an attempt to announce his presence, though quickly realising it wasn’t exactly going to be very effective if Emmet was asleep.

“Nice job, idiot.” He mumbled condescendingly under his breath. He really needed to stop doing this, because it definitely was not healthy.

“Emmet? You awake?” He got no response, so he tried again. “Emmet?” No response.

Rex wasn’t a stranger to the silent treatment, not at all, in fact, having been given it multiple times after the fall of Bricksburg, an event that seemed like it happened a lifetime ago… But now wasn’t the time to get all sad about the past, no, Rex had a conversation to be had and Emmet deserved an apology, he had no time to deal with something as _trivial_ as his past.

Rex slowly approached the bed, deciding to see if Emmet was really sleeping or giving him the silent treatment, though he’d place his bets on the latter.

“Look, Emmet, I know you’re upset and you’ve every right to be, I was a complete dick and I deserve the silent treatment. I hurt your feelings, even if I didn’t mean to, I still did, and that was totally uncool of me. Your questions were harmless, but my responses clearly weren’t. I’m not here to cause you any more harm than I already have, you deserve an explanation and more importantly, an apology. But I can’t do that if you don’t at least look at-” Rex explained before cutting himself off.

Rex could count on one hand the number of times he’d been shocked enough to the point he was speechless. He just didn’t get shocked that easily anymore, probably because spending 5 years in solitude while seeing all your friends have fun without you was enough of a shock to last a lifetime. Despite this, though, he wasn’t immune to shock, and in this case, it was at least justifiable.

Because Emmet was gone.


	4. The Doppelgänger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I just updated yesterday and I have another chapter rolling out today, it's almost as if I have chapters pre-written.
> 
> Jokes aside, I do hope this chapter isn't too confusing, I mean, at least I don't think so, but if it is, all things shall be revealed in the next chapter (most things at least).

Emmet can’t remember the last time he cried like this. Fall of Bricksburg? Nope, only panic attacks. After arguing with Lucy? Nah, just the feeling of guilt and sadness. The night after Ourmamageddon? Okay, guess he cried a bit, but could anyone really blame him for that? Despite this, though, Emmet was crying far more profusely now than during the night following Ourmamageddon, and it wasn’t exactly something he was proud of.

Rex’s words shouldn’t have had such a profound effect on him, but it was pointless wondering about the ‘shoulds’ and ‘coulds’ when the truth was, Rex’s words _did_ have a profound effect on him seeing as he was crying, something he _could not stop doing_.

“Stop crying!” Emmet cried to himself as he hiccupped and sniffed for what seemed like the millionth time. At this point, after going through several bursts of erratic crying sprees in the past few hours, he was starting to worry that this much crying would be cause for dehydration, though Emmet wasn’t exactly sure if that was how things worked or not.

Emmet had climbed out the window as soon as the door to his room had slammed shut. He needed to get as far away from Rex, the cabin and just _everything_ in general, well, that’s what he thought he needed to do back during the heat of the moment, but looking back, maybe running through the woods Rex specifically said to not go out into while crying and emotionally unbalanced wasn’t his brightest idea. Worst part was, he felt like he’d been running for _hours_ , so not only was Emmet completely exhausted, sweaty and hungry, he also had _no idea_ where he was.

If asked to describe to someone his current location, Emmet would draw up a blank, considering saying “I’m near a bunch of pine trees” wouldn’t be helpful. Well, he guessed he could say he was in a small cave of some sorts, but how likely was it that that would be helpful? Not very likely, if you asked Emmet.

Emmet sighed, exhausted and, annoyingly, _still crying_. Emmet leaned his sore and hot back against the cold cave wall, the coolness seeping through his safety jacket and shirt and into his overheated skin.

Wiping the tears he knew would probably come back whenever he thought about Rex again, something he really needed to stop doing, Emmet checked over his arms and legs, they were bruised, cut, battered and boy did they hurt. Running through a pine forest blinded by tears and a miserable mixture of emotions was not a good idea if the cuts and bruises he got by slamming into trees and branches was anything to go by. Thankfully, none of his cuts were very deep, so there was hardly any bleeding, but that didn’t change the fact that the cuts still hurt.

Emmet attempted to shift his position on the floor to a more comfortable one but instantly regretted doing so once a sharp flash of pain registered somewhere along his leg.

Tears stung at the edges of his eyes, but he had had enough with all the crying now.

Emmet closed his eyes with the intent of taking a quick nap to regain some energy, but that turned out to be impossible because his mind just _wouldn’t shut up_.

Emmet knew he was a rather curious person, always asking questions, even to the point of it potentially being annoying for some people. But what was going on in his mind was just insane. He just had so many questions, answers to which he just didn’t have.

Emmet was starting to feel lightheaded, the exhaustion coupled with his inability to sleep was finally starting to take a toll on his body, and the fact that his state of mind could be summed up with the word ‘miserable’ didn’t help him feel any better, physically or mentally.

He couldn’t believe himself. How had he managed to let Rex’s words hurt him this badly? He barely even knew Rex for more than a few days at most. He didn’t even think Lucy could hurt him this badly with words, well, that’s what he tells himself at least. So how did Rex manage to completely shatter Emmet with a single one-liner?

Out of all the questions Emmet had, _that_ was the only one he knew the answer to, but he didn’t want to admit it, so he didn’t.

Emmet’s bodily needs were beginning to catch up with him, seeing as his stomach was already grumbling due to the lack of any consumption of food in the past few hours and not only that, the intense sweating and crying he’d been doing was really starting to make him thirsty.

And the worst part was, Emmet had no idea where he even was, let alone know how to get back to Rex’s cabin. God, this was just comical. Emmet was stranded and lost in a world he didn’t even know the name of, away from home, and now, the only thing he could _consider_ a home in this world, well, he was stranded and lost away from that as well.

In his condition, he’d likely not be able to find his way back to the cabin, he could barely stand up now as it was, he was that tired. So, as much as he disliked it, Emmet resigned himself to the fact he was basically completely dependent on Rex being able to find and rescue him for him to be able to go back to the cabin.

The prospect of not being found and lost for good was a rather frightening prospect, one Emmet didn’t really want to think about, at all, he was an optimist after all, but the prospect of confronting Rex after… _that_ … was arguably worse.

It’s not that Emmet didn’t like seeing or talking to Rex, if anything, the opposite was true. He just didn’t think he could hold a conversation with Rex on what happened, especially in his current mental state, he’d most likely just start breaking down whenever he thought of what was said and he was not about to openly cry in front of Rex of all people. Rex didn’t need to deal with another problem, he was enough of one as it was.

Emmet’s heart clenched at this thought, but he willed the tears back. He didn’t need to cry anymore. Because the truth hurt… It always did, and no amount of crying would change that.

* * *

“Emmet?! Emmet, where are you?!” Rex yelled as he ran through the forest, plasma rifle in hand. “Emmet?!”

Rex knew that yelling this loud in the middle of the forest wasn’t a good idea, but honestly? Fuck good ideas, Emmet was somewhere in this god damn hell hole of a forest and he needed to find him, _fast_. He knew all the shit that went on around here, and bad didn’t even begin to describe it.

Emmet probably had spent hours running around considering the last time he saw him was a few hours ago, and having spent that long out here alone, Rex was terrified and on the verge of panicking. He was running out of time, if not already.

Rex stopped and looked around, searching for even a single clue of Emmet’s whereabouts. And luckily for him, a trail of broken branches and torn strips of clothing was all he needed.

* * *

The sound of snapping branches caught Emmet’s attention, a tell-tale sign of someone or something approaching if movies taught him anything.

Emmet’s senses were on full alert, his muscles tensed, and he could practically feel his heart beating faster. He didn’t know what or who was approaching, the only sign of life he’d seen during his short stay wherever this place was Rex, but it’d be unwise to assume Rex was the only lifeform here.

Emmet tried to stand up, just in case whatever was approaching was hostile, but his sore arms and legs failed to lift his tired body, he really needed some food.

Luckily for Emmet though, the person approaching turned out to just be Rex and boy was he glad to see him, even if it did bring back fresh memories that stung a bit. Rex, on the other hand, just looked awfully smug.

Emmet chuckled nervously. “Hey there, Rex. I’m, uh, I’m so glad you managed to find me, because I don’t think I could’ve found my way back on my own, I mean, I can barely stand up as it is, running through the forest blind probably wasn’t my best idea.” Rex didn’t respond, only narrowed his eyes at Emmet. “Oh, uh, I’m also really sorry for running off like that, that was quite rude of me and I didn’t mean to do it, but I just needed… I, ah… y-yeah.” Rex kept silent, which Emmet found strange, Rex usually didn’t stay quiet for this long, especially during a conversation.

Rex was in far better shape than Emmet, no cuts or bruises were visible on his arms or face, probably because he didn’t run around crashing into trees and branches on his way here. Though, one thing did strike Emmet as strange, when did Rex have blue eyes?

“Hmmmm… Emmet Brickowski… The lucky one…” Rex sneered the last part out, much to Emmet’s confusion and growing concern. Something didn’t feel right.

Rex took a few steps towards Emmet and he leaned down so the two were eye-to-eye.

“Tell me, Brickowski, why are you here?”

_What?_

“Why am I here? What do you mean, Rex?” Emmet was beyond confused at this point, not only was he unsure as to why Rex was suddenly referring to him by his surname, he also didn’t know why Rex was asking such a question, and _now_ , of all times.

Rex leaned even closer, causing Emmet to shift his head away so their foreheads didn’t touch. Emmet was growing uneasy, this was weird even by Rex’s standards.

“Hmmmm… Forget I asked. I’m just acting… weird.” Rex said.

Emmet raised an eyebrow at this, weird was definitely the word he’d use to describe… _this_.

Rex stepped back and back pacing around Emmet, okay, this was definitely starting to get really weird. “So, Brickowski, how’s Apocalypseburg doing?”

Emmet frowned in confusion, why was Rex asking about Apocalypsburg? Emmet’s sense of unease intensified, what was Rex doing? This was by far the weirdest thing to have happened to him since arriving here.

“Apocalypseburg? Well, uh, it doesn’t exactly exist anymore.” Rex stopped at that and turned to stare at Emmet, with something other than impassiveness and neutrality written across his face. “Got replaced by Syspocalypsestar after Ourmamageddon.” Emmet replied, hesitance clearly noticeable from his tone.

“Ahh, I see… Well, enough with the questions, it’s about time you went… home. You must be hungry.” Rex smirked.

Emmet wasn’t sure why, but he kept getting the feeling that something was wrong with this. Why did Rex keep pausing before saying certain things? Emmet didn’t remember Rex having a speech impediment.

“Uh, yeah, I actually am really hungry.”

“Let’s fix that shall we?”

Rex bounded towards Emmet, grabbing him roughly by the arms to pull him to his feet.

“Owww, Rex, that hurts, my arms are cut and bruised, you’re holding them too firmly.” Emmet complained as he winced in pain, Rex was holding far too tight, tighter than he normally did too.

Instead of softening is grip, however, Rex tightened it, eliciting a scream of pain as Rex’s digits dug deeper into Emmet’s shallow cuts.

Before Emmet could react to this, Rex lifted him up like a ragdoll and slammed him against the wall, causing Emmet to yelp in pain.

Emmet tried to struggle against Rex’s firm grip, but he was no match for Rex even when completely rested, let alone when exhausted and sore.

Rex laughed, finding pleasure in hearing Emmet scream and writhe in pain, it was about time someone could relate to him during the years he spent on Undar, even if this pain was a different kind.

Rex kneed Emmet’s legs, legs that were already bruised and battered from running through the forest. Emmet couldn’t recall the last time he’d been in so much pain, nor could he remember the last time he screamed this loudly.

Rex continued with his onslaught, and Emmet would’ve passed out from the pain had Rex not suddenly stopped.

“Hey! Fucktard! You lay another _fucking_ finger on Emmet and I’ll blow your fucking body to bits!” A very angry voice yelled.

Emmet, who was holding onto the bare strips of consciousness he had left, glanced to the direction of the voice and there, out the cave entrance, stood another Rex, but this one had a rifle and it was aimed straight at the person holding Emmet up. And boy, did he look _furious_.

And as much as the situation was confusing, Emmet had no doubt who that person _really_ was.

“Rex.”


	5. Clash Of Worlds

“Oh, look what we have here, if it isn’t the one and only _Rex Dangervest_.” The other Rex spat, eyes narrowed as he sneered at the new arrival, all the while still pinning Emmet up against the wall.

“Yeah, well, fuck you too, Rangervest.” Rex growled. It took Rex all of his willpower not to just straight up _massacre_ the douchebag terrorising Emmet, and even then, he was having trouble keeping himself from pulling the trigger. “I’m not going to _fucking_ say this another time. You lay another finger on Emmet and you’ll fucking wish you killed yourself on Undar.”

Rangervest laughed, his grip on Emmet ever so slightly tightening, much to Emmet’s discomfort and increasingly unbearable pain.

“I’d like to see you try and even touch me. How about this? You take another step forward and I’ll kill your precious little boyfriend. You pull the trigger instead? Well, let’s just say sweet little Emmet over here would look _adorable_ with a blaster hole in his face.” Rangervest smirked.

Rex hadn’t realised how hard Emmet was pinned against the wall until Rangervest moved him away, causing Emmet’s body to practically fall limp from what he prayed to just be exhaustion. Luckily for him, his prayers were answered, though really, he had only managed to get the lesser of two evils, because Emmet tensed immediately when his captor held him against his body and practically strangled him with his elbow.

The sound of Emmet’s grunts of pain made Rex tighten his already bone-crushingly strong grip on his rifle, his body nearly shaking with rage. He’d never wanted to kill someone so badly in his life, regardless of the fact they looked exactly like him.

“You must be truly stupid to think that I can’t blast your fucking head off from here without a scratch coming to Emmet.”

“Oh, then why haven’t you?” Rangervest’s condescending tone only infuriated Rex even more.

“Because a shot to the head is too quick a death for bastards like you.” Rex spat through gritted teeth.

Rangervest even had the audacity to start laughing again, though this time far more condescendingly. Rex knew what Rangervest was doing was solely to piss him off, and much to his annoyance, it was working. And Rex was pretty sure the bastard was loving every second of this. God, he fucking hated this asshole.

“Bastards like me? Oh, that is _truly_ rich, especially coming from _you_. Tell me, Dangervest, who is more of a bastard? Me? Or the person who not only tricked Emmet into destroying his friend’s wedding but also willingly sent him off to rot alone on Undar merely because he didn’t want to become an asshole like _you_.”

“Rex! Don’t listen-” Emmet’s choked breaths and gasps for air prevented him from finishing what he was trying to say as his captor tightened his strangle hold across his neck.

Though these sounds were quickly quieted by the tell-tale sound of a blaster firing and the loud yell of pain that quickly followed, which, thankfully, weren’t Emmet’s, not that Rex had any doubt in his aim, but when it came to things like this, it was best to steer on the side of caution, which may explain why the shot only landed on Rangervest’s shoulder and not his head, but hey, Rex managed to get the desired effect of releasing Emmet from Rangervest’s vice stranglehold, and that’s all he could really ask for.

Wasting no time at all, Rex bounded towards Emmet, who was on his knees coughing his lungs out, it seemed. With one hand still aiming his rifle straight at the person who was clutching their shoulder in pain only a few feet away, Rex roughly pulled Emmet up from his kneeling position and pushed him back behind, firmly planting himself in between Emmet and Rangervest.

Rex didn’t have time to apologise for the roughness of his actions when he noticed the handheld blaster pistol strapped to Rangervest’s foot. He needed to get rid of that, else things would start getting messy real fast.

“Emmet, stay behind me and don’t let him get you in his line of sight, this asshole has a blaster that he won’t be hesitant to use.”

Rex silently cursed himself for neglecting to wear body armour when running out to go find Emmet, because he could sure use some right about now, especially when the barrel end of a blaster pistol was aimed right at him.

“Don’t even bother, you can’t hide behind someone who’s dead.” Rangervest sneered.

“Look, we don’t have to do this. How about you just fuck off back to wherever you came from and we’ll head back to wherever we came from and we can forget this ever happened.” Rex suggested, all the while still tightly gripping the handles of his weapon, one finger trained on the trigger in case Rangervest had any funny ideas.

“Oh, it’s far too late for that. I came this far already, and I’m gonna finish what I started, even if that means getting through you.”

Rex could practically feel his blood boiling at this point, he understood what Rangervest meant by that and he was enraged, to say the least.

The trembling hand resting on his shoulder was Rex’s only reassurance that Emmet was conscious and breathing. But the fact that he even needed this reassurance only made him hate the man in front of him even more.

Emmet didn’t deserve all the shit he’d put him through, let alone all the shit this asshole put him through. He really was only a burden on Emmet’s life, him and his alternate counterparts.

The heat radiating off the plasma bolt fired from Rangervest’s blaster brought Rex out of his reverie. He was expecting pain to register _somewhere_ , but strangely enough, the pain never came, the shot didn’t seem to be aimed at him, and even though it didn’t seem to hit its intended target, Rex had a feeling he knew what, no, who that target was. And that was all it took for Rex to snap.

The few seconds after that were a blur to him, everything seemed to happen far too fast for his mind to keep up, which may explain why the next thing he knew, he was fist fighting with Rangervest, his rifle who knows where.

It quickly became apparent who was better at hand-to-hand combat, and despite them essentially being the same person, it was _not_ Rex. There was no way he could beat Rangervest at such a close range, he was getting pummelled as it was, it also didn’t help that the fucker had the gall to start laughing again.

“What’s this? The great Rex Dangervest losing to someone who just got shot in the shoulder? How fucking pathetic is this?”

Rex needed his rifle, and fast as well because he didn’t know how many more punches to the gut he could take, if only he knew where the damn thing was.

He guessed Rangervest didn’t approve of him scanning the area for his weapon if the brutal right hook to the face he received was any indication. It took Rex a few shaky seconds to get his bearings back together to realise that he was on his hands and knees, with droplets of blood dripping from his nose to the ground below. Honestly, Rex pretty much expected he’d be outclassed, but not by _this_ much.

“Trying to find your rifle? Why don’t you try and find your precious little Emmet while you’re at it? Oh, wait, _you can’t,_ because they’re gone.” Rangervest laughed as he crushed Rex’s chest under the sole of his boot. Though Rex was adamant on not letting the asshole get the satisfaction of hearing him scream in pain, didn’t make it any less painful though. “You came all the way out here to save your sweet little boyfriend from the same fate you’re about to go through, and what does he do? He abandons you, just like your friends did back when you were trapped on Undar. I can’t say I feel sympathy for you, the weak get what they deserve.”

“Emmet hasn’t abandoned me, you’d be stupid to believe so. I believe in him, I trust him, and I believe that he’s going to come back to kick your shitty ass!” As much as Rex put up his show of confidence, he couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling of doubt that sat at the back of his mind.

Rangervest stomped his foot on Rex’s stomach, causing the latter to yelp in agony, his face scrunched up in pain and his eyes scrunched so hard tears nearly sprung out. But he refused to scream. He’d never scream, not for him.

Rex knew that Rangervest’s words were manipulative and condemning, he knew they were complete bullshit he shouldn’t take to heart because what was being said _wasn’t true_ , it couldn’t be true. But, if so, _why did they hurt so much?_

“I _was_ planning to torture Emmet before you arrived, it’s the least he deserves. But now that he’s gone and all that’s left is you. Well, let’s just say I’m gonna enjoy making you _scream_.”

Before he could get a hold of Rex’s throat, Rangervest was already lying on the ground unconscious, guess that’s what being hit in the head with the butt of a rifle does to a person, but Rex wasn’t complaining, especially when he saw who was responsible for it.

“You came back…”

“Of course I did! I’d never abandon you, Rex.” Emmet replied softly, a small smile gracing his face.

Before Rex could respond, however, he was being bear-hugged by Emmet.

This was… different.

Rex couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged, being trapped on Undar for 5 years meant there was nothing _to_ hug or to be hugged by, not that that bothered him in the later years, though. He’d forgotten what if felt like to be hugged by people you cared about, but with Emmet hugging him now, it was… nice. He missed this.

But now was no time to start becoming nostalgic when Rangervest could regain his consciousness at any second. They needed to get out of here.

“Emmet, as much as I love hugging you, we have to go, Rangervest could wake up any second now.”

“Alright. I just… wanted to say thank you, for coming for _me,_ because I don’t know what would’ve happened had you not.” Emmet said as he wiped his wet eyes, his voice trembling with emotion.

Rex smiled. “No need to thank me, kid, I would’ve searched this entire god damn forest for you if that’s what it took. I let you down once already, I’m not about to do that a second time…”

“Rex… I-”

“Come on! We gotta move, Emmet! Let’s go!”

* * *

The race back home was silent, only the sounds of their heavy breathing and footsteps broke the otherwise tranquil silence of the forest.

Rex didn’t break the silence, so neither did Emmet.

But this didn’t mean they didn’t have something they wanted to say.

They just didn’t have the courage to say it…


	6. Heart To Heart Conversations

Emmet was restless. This wasn’t exactly something new, but he couldn’t say it didn’t annoy him.

Why couldn’t he be granted the pleasures of a good night’s sleep? Surely, he deserved it after what he’d been through today, right? … Curse his ever-curious self. Sure, it allowed him to meet all the people he now calls his friends a couple years ago, but it’s also now hindering his ability to _sleep_ , and much like Rex, Emmet lived in the now.

Emmet twisted and turned on his bed, careful not to disrupt the careful entanglement of bandages around his arms and stomach, he definitely didn’t want a repeat of the unbearable awkwardness of having Rex bandage him up. This wasn’t to say Emmet wasn’t still rather annoyed that Rex completely dismissed his protests of not needing all the bandages they had available to cover up his wounds, especially when Rex’s bruising wasn’t exactly well hidden.

Deciding that any hope of getting even a wink of sleep was him being delusional, Emmet sat up and as much as he tried not to, he couldn’t help but wince in pain. His abdomen really _did_ hurt, and his arms weren’t exactly strong supports either, but he’d be damned if he let this affect anything he did.

Emmet sighed, rubbing a hand down his tired face. This wasn’t like him at all… He was supposed to be the happy, joyful and jovial Emmet he usually was, not this tired, stressed and sad version of himself. Emmet had told himself this ever since Ourmamageddon happened, but how could he do anything when the solution to his problem had disappeared from existence? Or so he thought…

“You know, depressed isn’t a good look on you.”

Speak of the devil.

“You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that, it’s scary how quiet and stealthy you can be.”

Rex huffed out a laugh, though there was little humour in it. “Yeah, sorry about that, old habits die hard.”

Emmet was exhausted and was, frankly, not in the mood for much banter. His emotions were still a complete mess and his body was pretty badly beaten up as well, so he guessed it was at least somewhat appropriate for him to not want to participate in much banter, even if it was with Rex.

Though, luckily for him, Rex didn’t seem to want to engage in much banter either, if the shaky, exhausted sigh he let out was any indication.

“Look, I know you’re probably not in the mood for much conversation and that all you probably want to do right now is sleep. But judging by how you’re sitting on your bed staring at your lap with that look on your face, I can tell you have things on your mind, questions you want answered. Go ahead and try and tell me I’m wrong.”

Emmet didn’t respond, but that was all Rex needed for an answer.

“But before I do anything else, I first need to get this out there. Look, I know I was harsh and a bit of a douchebag to you earlier today when you asked about the whereabouts of this place, and… I’m sorry about that, but after everything that happened recently, I hope you can understand that I only kept that information from you to protect you.”

_Everything I’ve ever done was to protect you._

“Though, we all know how well _that_ went. But hey, at least we can mark that off as another one of Rex Dangervest’s myriad of failed plans and attempts at protection, nothing new here, honestly.”

Emmet could hear Rex’s self-deprecating undertone and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Rex? Is everything alright?”

“No, everything’s fine… I’m fine.” Rex reassured. Though Emmet was unconvinced, he knew what he sounded like when he lied, and it was pretty obvious that Rex was lying.

“No, everything’s _not_ fine and it’s pretty clear that _you’re_ not fine either.” Emmet stated matter-of-factly as he leaned forward and yanked Rex onto the bed beside him, ignoring the yelp of surprise and protests that followed. “You can’t honestly tell me that you’re fine after everything that’s happened lately. Because you are not _fine_.”

“Alright, fine! I’m a bit banged up and bruised, but it’s nothing compared to your injuries, so it’s no big deal. I’m not going to continue this conversation if you’re still going on about me needing bandages. So, just, stop fussing over things that aren’t important.”

Emmet had a feeling he knew what, no, who Rex was referring to when he said that last part, and that was not okay.

He was determined to get to the bottom of this self-deprecation, by all means necessary as well, because he knew how dismissive Rex could be if you weren’t proactive in trying to get something out of him.

Emmet knew one thing that always worked with _him_ , and that was bluntness. He wasn’t sure if it would work on Rex as well, but guess there was only one way to find out.

“Rex, do you hate me?”

Despite the suddenness of the question, the sharp and resounding “No.” that immediately followed left no room for any questions or doubts.

“Then why do you hate yourself?”

“Emmet, I don’t-”

“No, don’t give me that. No more lies, I want the truth and only the truth. Now, tell me, why do you hate yourself?”

Emmet didn’t like the silence that followed.

“Rex...”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Rex whispered, his voice was shaky, and the fact that he wasn’t facing Emmet only made it that much harder to hear.

“What?”

“… Why shouldn’t I hate myself? There’s a hell of a lot of reasons to do so but not many to do otherwise.” Rex’s voice cracked. “My friends didn’t come to rescue me when I was stranded on Undar because I wasn’t good enough for them, because they hated me. Your friends hate me because I ruined their wedding, I ruined their plans… I nearly ruined everything. And you… you hate me because I hurt you, I fought you, I… lied to you. And if everyone hates me… Why _shouldn’t_ I hate myself?”

Rex was shaking, he was wringing his hands together in an attempt at trying to compose himself, it wasn’t working very well. And just the sight of this was enough to break Emmet’s heart, no one deserved to feel like this, especially not Rex.

“What makes you think I hate you?”

Rex chuckled darkly. “Who _doesn’t_ hate the one person who not only tricked them into betraying their friends to cause an apocalypse but also tried to forcibly change who they were by shooting them off to a desolate planet?”

“Apparently, not me.”

“Please, don’t lie to me Emmet, I won’t be able to take it.”

“I’m not lying. Trust me when I say this, I don’t hate you, Rex. I could never hate you.” Emmet smiled softly at Rex, whose eyes were starting to shine with unshed tears, tears which couldn’t simply be blinked away.

“Why?! Why don’t you hate me?! I don’t deserve any of this! I don’t deserve _you_! So, why can’t you just hate me, Emmet?!” Rex exclaimed, hands grasping Emmet’s shoulders as he tried to shake some sense into him. His face was scrunched up in pain, pain that had nothing to do with the bruises covered Rex’s body.

_Because I love you._

“Because, even despite all the bad things you’ve done, I know you only did it to protect me. Your actions may have been a bit extreme at times, but your heart’s in the right place, and that’s all I need.”

Emmet never expected to be hugging Rex Dangervest, of all people, as he let loose five years’ worth of pent up emotions in the form of sobbing his heart out while mumbling incoherent apologies to no one in particular. But Emmet never expected half of what had happened in his life, so his judgement really was nothing to go by.

It wasn’t until Rex was still in his arms and his breath had evened out from the erratic breathing just before, did Emmet speak up again, and even then, it was only a whisper of something he had wanted to say out loud for a very long time.

“I love you.”

* * *

Emmet startled awake to the sound of a loud crash and a yelp of pain.

Oddly enough, it took him a few seconds to realise that he had actually fallen asleep at some point, he’d sworn that he was awake just a few seconds ago, but then again, that’s him every time he wakes up 2 hours after turning off his alarm.

Removing himself from his thoughts, Emmet was immediately aware of the apparent lack-of-Rex on the bed, though luckily, he didn’t have to go search very far since Rex was on the floor rubbing the back of his head.

Emmet was glad to see that Rex seemed to be in a much better mood than before, all evidence of what happened a few hours prior was nowhere to be seen, well, aside from the tear tracks on his face, that is.

Even though it pained him to see the product of Rex’s pent up emotions still on his face, Emmet wasn’t about to ruin the mood. Plus, he sort of also wanted to know what exactly happened for Rex to be on the floor.

“Rex? What happened?”

Rex bristled and froze. Despite the darkness shrouding the room, there was just about enough light for Emmet tell that Rex was blushing, and if that wasn’t a sight to behold, he didn’t know what was.

“I, uh, woke up and, uh, found myself lying on top of you…” Rex answered. It was quite obvious he was trying to look anywhere but at Emmet.

“But how did that lead to you falling onto the floor?” Emmet asked, feigning innocence and curiosity. This was too funny, Rex Dangervest becoming flustered? Who would’ve known.

Rex immediately stood, crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Emmet, clearly, he had caught on. Emmet was aware that Rex was trying to look intimidating, but with the hints of a blush still on his cheeks and the very apparent bed hair Rex was sporting, Emmet couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Yeah, fine, go ahead and laugh. I’ll just keep the answers to your questions to myself then.” Rex smirked when Emmet’s laughter immediately died out.

“Hey! No fair, Rex! You said you’d give me the answers I wanted!” Emmet whined, which drew a hearty laugh out of Rex.

“Alright, fine. I’ll answer your questions.” Rex moved to sit back on the bed, but this time facing Emmet instead of the doorway, which was a nice change, at least in Emmet’s opinion.

“Okay, ask away.”

“Well, first of all, I’d like to know what this place is and where it is.”

“Well, to answer the first part of your question, this place is called the Shelf of Abandonment and apparently, it’s where all time anomalies and everything abandoned or forgotten get sent, as the name implies. To answer the second part of your question, well, I don’t really have an answer for that.”

“I guess that explains why we’re both here then. But I have another question, how do you know all of this?”

“I was told everything I know about this place from a… reputable source. Well, at least I thought they were.” Rex’s vision glanced to the window as he said this.

“Who was this ‘reputable source’?”

Rex winced, Emmet didn’t take that as a good sign. What could possibly be so bad about _this_ question?

“Do you really want to know, Emmet?”

“Yes?” Emmet answered. He had meant for it to be a statement, but it ended up coming across as more of a question instead.

Rex sighed. “Rangervest is the ‘reputable source’.”

“… What?”

“I know it sounds stupid and crazy, but it’s the truth, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“Why?”

Rex looked away as if he was reluctant to tell Emmet the answer to the question. But he eventually conceded in the end.

“Rangervest and I were… friends… during the first few months I was here.”

Great…


	7. Questions And Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so unusually long, but I've just been rather busy with school life recently and I hadn't had the time to write much, but hey, here it is one day after April Fool's and right after I just finished an essay.

Emmet blinked at Rex.

Rex blinked back, albeit far more awkwardly. How Rex managed to make a task such as _blinking_ even remotely awkward was an accomplishment on its own.

If he was being honest, this was definitely _not_ the reaction he was expecting from Emmet. If anything, he was expecting full-on shock from him, followed by a relentless barrage of questions, questions which he probably wouldn’t be able to answer. Not… whatever this was. Like, seriously, were they having a blinking competition?

“… Why?”

Well, at least he was somewhat right about the questioning part.

Rex opened his mouth to answer, but only just realising that he didn’t actually _have_ an answer to that question. Out of all the questions Emmet could’ve asked, he asked _why_. Heck, Emmet could’ve asked what the hell was wrong with him for him to go and befriend a psychopath like Rangervest. And as much as that question would hurt, he’d at least have an answer to that, though he was pretty certain Emmet wouldn’t be happy with his answer.

But, ‘why’?

How the hell was he supposed to answer _that_? Why, as in, why he became friends with Rangervest? Well, he didn’t fucking know _why_. It just… happened, as do most friendships. Honestly, what even was this question? It was basically the equivalent of asking why your mother gave birth to you or why the Earth was round, like, how the hell is anyone supposed to know that?

“You know, a verbal ‘I don’t know’ would’ve been sufficient.”

Wait a second. “How did you-”

Emmet huffed out a laugh. “Rex, I may be really unobservant at times, but even I can read an open book.”

Rex didn’t know if he should’ve felt humiliated that it took him a few seconds to realise the implications of what Emmet just said, or insulted that Emmet just called him an open book.

Rex huffed indignantly. He had to do _something_ to preserve his pride, if not straight up countering with his own quips.

Emmet only sighed and crossed his legs as he turned to face Rex. Mouth already opening to ask another question before Rex abruptly butted in.

“Look, I was lonely, alright?”

Emmet immediately picked up on what Rex was referring to, and he was surprised that Rex decided to answer, to say the least.

“Rex, you and me both know what it’s like to be lonely, but forming toxic friendships isn’t a suitable remedy for that.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Rex asked almost sarcastically.

“I’m not doubting your knowledge, you clearly know a lot more than me. But it’s hard to believe you _do_ know that, considering you befriended someone like _Rangervest_.”

Rex snapped his gaze towards Emmet, narrowing his eyes as he did so. “Hey, in my defence, I didn’t _know_ he was a psychopath when I first became friends with him, and plus, I left him once I realised he was pretty messed up.” Rex crossed his arms and looked away. He couldn’t decipher the look Emmet was giving him, but, either way, he didn’t like it, so he tried to ignore it. “I was lonely, not desperate.”

“Alright, no need to get defensive, Rex.”

“I’m not getting defensive.” Rex really hated the completely unconvinced look Emmet was giving him at the moment. “Just ask the next question already.”

A small smile broke out on Emmet’s face as he shook his head.

“You better start asking that next question before I decide that sitting here and humouring you is a waste of my time.” Rex threatened.

At least that got Emmet to stop smiling.

_Good, serves him right._

“Rex! You said you’d give me answers! No fair!”

“Well, I didn’t expect our Q&A session to morph into ‘Let’s Make Fun Of Rex Monday’!”

Oh, the irony in that. Just a few hours ago, today could’ve been called ‘Let’s Comfort Rex Monday’, but that didn’t exactly support his current case, so he’d keep that under wraps. Not that he wasn’t grateful that Emmet had been there to support him, though.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Okay, that idiom was always going to cause Emmet to laugh no matter how many times he tried to practice saying it, this time was no different.

Rex, on the other hand, was rubbing the bridge of his nose, completely fed up with this crap. Honestly, he was tempted to say he was too old for this, even when he was only 32.

“Emmet, I swear to god, another one of your quips and not even that adorable face of yours is going to save you from me.” Rex glared at Emmet, who only laughed even harder.

Rex wouldn’t admit this, but it was nice to hear Emmet laughing again, he was afraid that after what happened, Emmet would be psychologically scarred and would have trouble laughing and being himself again. But, thankfully for him, that wasn’t the case.

He was fully aware that these things were still very much possibilities, but it was at least reassuring to know that Emmet could still find joy in the most nonsensical and childish things he’d ever seen. He was still Emmet, and that was all that mattered.

All of this, however, did _not_ mean Rex was not on the verge of being completely and utterly _done_ with Emmet’s crap.

He was definitely too old for this.

“Okay, fine. I’ll be serious now.” Rex didn’t realise he was holding a sigh of relief back until he released it upon hearing those words. “Something else I really wanted to know is, who exactly _is_ Rangervest?”

_Finally, a decent question._

“Well, do you want the short story or the long story?”

“Uh, the short story would be great.”

“Excellent choice, because I wouldn’t be able to give you the long story even if I wanted to.” Rex flashed a grin that practically radiated an aura of ‘deal with it’.

Emmet only sighed in fond exasperation.

“Let’s start things off easy, shall we? I’m pretty sure you know this, but I’ll say it anyways because why not? Rangervest, or more specifically, Rex Rangervest, was me, the only difference being he’s from an alternate timeline, albeit a pretty messed up one.” Rex glanced back towards Emmet to make sure he was still listening, and thankfully, he was. “From what I gathered from our conversations, it looked like his timeline was quite different to ours. Unlike yours and mine where the main diverging point was the journey through the Stairgate, the main diverging point for Rangervest’s timeline compared to ours was probably long before that, I don’t know exactly when, but I’m pretty certain it was before the fall of Bricksburg.”

Emmet hummed in acknowledgement as Rex leaned back and laid on the bed, folding his arms behind his head.

“But, whenever the diverging point was, it messed with his timeline pretty badly. I don’t know very much about his timeline, Rangervest was really cagey when it came to his past, but I do know that the Systar System still invades Bricksburg and that the whole Undar incident still happens, though I have a nagging feeling the Undar in his timeline was very different from the Undar in ours.”

If he was being honest, Rex really didn’t like talking about Rangervest, the psychopath _did_ try and kill him and Emmet just a few hours prior. So, it was rather understandable that Rex was unable to keep the subtle undertones of anger from lacing his voice when he spoke of Rangervest.

“What makes you think that?” Emmet asked, almost cautiously. His body language practically screaming reluctance.

“Well, considering the fact that he kept going on about the fact that other people needed to experience the pain and torture he went through near the end of our friendship, I’d say his experience on Undar was quite different from mine.”

If this was a few months prior, any mention of Undar would’ve stung. But now, having had months to come to terms with what happened, he’d come to accept that Undar was just another event that shaped who he was now. Sure, his time on Undar was pretty terrible, there was no doubt about that, but as he told Emmet months ago, you couldn’t hang onto the past, nothing good ever came out of that. And he’d be wise to follow his own advice.

Rex wasn’t exactly a fan of silence, mainly due to the fact that he’d gotten sick of it during the five years he spent on Undar, and he was pretty certain Emmet didn’t particularly enjoy silence either if his vague memories of his time as Emmet were anything to go by. So, the sudden silence that was fell on them after Rex had finished his explanation was… unnerving, to say the least.

“… W-Will he be back?” Emmet asked, his voice shaking slightly.

Rex clenched the fist that sat in his lap. He hated how he hadn’t been able to get to Emmet in time to prevent any harm from being done. He hated how he’d even let Emmet fall into such a situation in the first place. And he hated the answer that he was going to have to give Emmet.

“Yes.”

Rex tried to ignore the slight paling of Emmet’s face, he really did, but as with most of the things he tried doing, it ended in failure.

Lunging forward, Rex took hold of Emmet and pulled him towards his body in a hug. Rex wasn’t much of a hugger, not since Undar, at least. Having never found the need to do so for quite some time. But that changed quite quickly once he met Emmet, but then again, many things he thought were constants in his life changed quite quickly once Emmet came into the picture.

Rex was a bit surprised that Emmet reciprocated rather quickly, not initially expecting the hug to last very long, let alone be reciprocated. But, honestly, he should’ve known this would’ve happened because he of all people would know perfectly well that Emmet was obsessed with hugs.

Emmet’s body was warm and the steady rise and fall of his back was comforting. Despite all that had happened today, Rex had never felt more at peace than he was now, and as much as he tried to pretend not knowing why that was, he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone, not even himself.

Rex sighed quietly, content with staying like this, hugging Emmet, and away from the thoughts and feelings he knew he would have to address at some point. But, that was for another time. Now, Emmet needed him, and he’d be there for him like Emmet was for him. It was the least he could do.

“Don’t worry, Emmet. I won’t ever let anything bad happen to you again, I promise. I’ll keep you safe and I’ll never put you in harm’s way again. And I’ll… I’ll get you home…”

He guessed hugs weren’t all that bad after all.


End file.
